Yahoo’s suitors uncover few financial details

Yahoo executives have offered gloomy financial projections for the current year but have refused to discuss the outlook for 2017.Michael J de la Merced&Vindu Goel | New York Times | April 16, 2016, 09:03 IST

As Yahoo prepares to accept first-round bids for its core Internet business on Monday, potential buyers have found themselves facing one big problem: How do you value a company with a declining business when the company appears reluctant to share vital financial details?

In meetings and phone calls with potential bidders, Yahoo executives have offered gloomy financial projections for the current year but have refused to discuss the outlook for 2017 or answer questions about crucial aspects of the business. But several big companies are expected to place bids for Yahoo, according to people briefed on the matter.

Verizon Communications, has publicly expressed interest in buying Yahoo's core Internet business and merging it with its AOL division, plans to press forward. The Daily Mail, a British tabloid newspaper and website, said publicly that it had considered joining with potential investors for a bid. And the private equity firm TPG plans to make a bid in the first round on its own, according to a person briefed on the matter.

SoftBank, the Japanese telecommunications giant that controls Yahoo Japan, does not plan to bid despite press reports to the contrary.

A 90-slide presentation shown to potential Yahoo bidders is dense with figures, but even people familiar with the company's operations have struggled to make sense of them. At the same time, Yahoo devoted just a couple of slides to important strategies, like its costly Hail Mary project to create an entirely new mobile search experience to leapfrog competitors like Google, Apple and Amazon.

Marissa Mayer, Yahoo's chief executive, is expected to face questions about the bidding Tuesday, when the company reports its latest quarterly earnings. The total value of Yahoo shares is now about $35 billion.

One reason for Yahoo's reluctance to share information may be that the business is worse than the company has publicly disclosed. That has added to confusion regarding the intentions of a board of directors that, just a few months ago, publicly said it had no intention of selling.